Mark Jensen (born July 11, 1976 in

Oregon City, Oregon Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...

) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

for the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. He spent time with three different NFL teams: the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

. He also spent one year (2004) in NFL Europe, playing for the now defunct

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores, were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

. Jensen served for three years as Cal Football's Director of Player Development. He holds dual American/Danish citizenship.

Early life

Jensen earned first-team Utah All-State two times (1993–1994) at Pleasant Grove High School. In 1993, he kicked a game-winning field goal in the Utah 4A state-championship game to lift Pleasant Grove High School over Judge Memorial High School 18-17. Following his senior campaign, he was named

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

second-team ALL-American. Following graduation from high school, Jensen served a two-year mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Leipzig, Germany Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

College career

At the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, Jensen was a four-year starter, handling both field goals and kick offs from 1999-2002. Jensen continued in a long line of Cal greats including

Ray Wersching Raimund "Ray" Wersching (born August 21, 1950) is an Austrian former American football player who was a placekicker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1987. He played college football for the California Golden ...

Jim Breech James Thomas Breech (born April 11, 1956) is an American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Oakland Raiders in 1979, and for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1980 to 1992. Breech played college footb ...

, Doug Brien,

Ryan Longwell Ryan Walker Longwell (born August 16, 1974Ryan Longwell
NFLPA.com. Retrieved November 22, 2014.< ...

, and Nick Harris. He holds the Golden Bears’ modern day scoring record with 107 points (2002), consecutive PATs (72) and most PATs in a game (10) Jensen also hold the Cal and

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

record for most field goals in a game (5) versus

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

in 2002. He converted on field goals of 50 and 51 yards out, registering the fifth and seventh-longest field goals in Golden Bear history. He graduated with a BA in Development Studies in 2001 after only three years of college. He completed his master's degree in Education (Language, Literacy, Society & Culture emphasis) also at Berkeley. 2002 emerged as one of the nations most prolific kickers. Among his 2002 honors, he was named one of 20 Semi-Finalists for the Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award. He was named the Pac-10 Special teams player of the week after kicking a Pac-10 record 5 field goals versus Air Force. He set a school record for points (107), while his 8.92 ppg average was second in the Pac-10 and 17th nationally. He was First-team 2002 Pac-10 All-Academic. He finished his Cal career as the school's fourth All-Time leading scorer. Jensen's Cal career statistics:

NFL and post-NFL careers

Jensen signed a free agent contract with the

following the 2003

NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

, but was waived during training camp after injuring his groin versus the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

. While with Detroit, he connected on a 33-yard field goal versus theSteelers as well as going 2-2 on extra points. A year later, he was signed by the

and subsequently allocated to play in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

. After handling all kick-off duties for the

, Jensen returned to St. Louis only to be subsequently released. He was signed immediately by the

and joined them for camp. Once again, Jensen reinjured his groin and after taking an injury settlement was released by the Raiders. Jensen has also had tryouts with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

, and NY Jets. He worked in student-athlete development for Cal Football where he oversaw all aspects "off the field" for Cal players, including academics, housing, community relations, alumni relations, player employment, and admissions. Jensen established Mark Jensen Kicking, which led to working with hundreds of high school, college, and professional kickers and punters. He tutored NFL kickers: Andrew Franks, Giorgio Tavecchio, Justin Medlock, Chris Kluwe. He now is in sales for

Stryker Corporation Stryker Corporation is an American multinational Medical Technologies, medical technologies corporation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Stryker's products include implants used in joint replacement and trauma surgeries; surgica ...

.Mark Jensen

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

page In 2016 was named Stryker’s #1 overall hip rep in the country, winning the prestigious Grand Champions Award.

References

External links

Mark Jensen KickingPlayer ProfileRelated ArticlesUtah State Championship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Mark Living people 1976 births Sportspeople from Oregon City, Oregon Players of American football from Clackamas County, Oregon People from Pleasant Grove, Utah Players of American football from Utah County, Utah American football placekickers California Golden Bears football players Detroit Lions players St. Louis Rams players Scottish Claymores players Oakland Raiders players